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Saint John of Matha During San Francisco's illustrious past, a place not to go to if you wanted to stay healthy was the Barbary Coast, a notorious strip of real estate known for its saloons, gambling houses and brothels. As a cottage industry, the area was also a staging site for the extremely onerous practice of shanghaing hapless sailors, who had jumped ship to join the hundreds of other sailors who went to mine the goldfields of the rich California soil. Literally, the sailors were drugged and put into involuntary servitude aboard ships which sailed for points west-without regard for the wishes of the ship's crew. On or about 1154, along came John of Matha, who from early in his life, was consecrated to God. Saint John had good credentials and was quite a student. He was born in Faucon,a native of Provence and later educated at Aix. He completed his graduate studies with honors at the University of Paris, where he later taught theology. He actively harbored an idea to ransom Christian prisoners being held by Moslems, of which there were thousands; that desire never left him; but what he needed was a confederate-someone of like mind who could motivate him. He found his prospective companion in Saint Felix of Valois, a hermit. John was also impelled, on the date of his ordination, by an heavenly vision which made him understand that God wanted him to be a redeemer of Christian captives. On that information, he sought out Saint Felix who lived in a hermitage called Cerfroi which became the motherhouse of the Order. After obtaining the necessary permission from Pope Innocent III, The Order of The Most Holy Trinity for the Ransom of Captives, commonly known as the Trintarians, was founded. John composed the Rule for the order and could rightly say that he was the primary founder of the order. Meanwhile, John spent the rest of his life founding houses for the Order, ransoming Christian captives and opening hospitals for the sick and hospices for the poor. Towards the end of the twelfth century, the Order had 250 houses throughout Christendom where his benevolent work was manifested by the return of liberated captives. John died in Rome in 1213. For eight centuries, the Trinitarians have rendered glory to the Most Holy Trinity by alleviating the pains of suffering humanity. Today, the Trinitarians are missionaries, chaplains in prisons and hospitals, educators, social workers and friends of the less fortunate. The Trinitarians wear a white habit, with a cross of which the upright is red and the cross bar is blue. Clem can be reached at DeAmicis@pacbell.net Italian Catholic Federation, 8393 Capwell Drive, Suite 110, Oakland CA 94621 tel: 888/ICF-1924; 510/633-9058; fax: 510/633-9758; Email: info@icf.org Website designed by HYPERSPHERE